Page 7 - 200903 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - March 2009

7 Group Wants Ghost House Saved 7 Group Wants Ghost House Saved Degrees Of Silliness Degrees Of Silliness By Brian Mciver By Brian Mciver Unusual Subjects Luring Unusual Subjects Luring Students To College Uni Students To College Uni Courses On Ghostbusting Courses On Ghostbusting And David Beckham And David Beckham THEY'RE supposed to be the happiest days of your life ... and going by some of the school, college and university courses on offer now, they definitely will be. As well as maths, history, science, languages and English, 21st-century education allows you to study subjects such as beer, gambling and David Beckham. Angling is the latest subject designed to encourage kids into learning, with a course in the sport being offered to pupils across Scotland. The Angling For Youth Development course has been successfully rolled out in Strathclyde and Tayside, and will soon be developed into a proper qualification. But a diploma in fishing seems quite sensible compared to some other courses on offer across the UK. Group wants ghost gather as many signatures as possible and From surfing to science fiction and Big Group wants ghost present the petition to Townsend, as well as the house saved Ocala City Council. Macs to Ghostbusting, education institutions are house saved increasingly teaching unusual subjects in a bid Per bank policy, Townsend has declined to attract students. to comment on the Seven Sisters Inn. Some could lead to a future career. Southeastern Paranormal Investigations As of this writing, the online petition has Others are simply bizarre. - known as SEPI, an Ocala-based group that more than 200 names on it, with responders Here are a few examples: offers ghost tours - has launched an online leaving pleas to extend the foreclosure deadline petition urging the inn's mortgage holder to and praising owners Bonnie Morehardt and Ken SCIENCE FICTION extend the foreclosure deadline. Oden, who have run the inn for 20 years. Aspiring Jedi Knights and Klingons can Meanwhile, a South Florida paranormal The petition can be found at head to the University of Liverpool if they want investigator who worked on a ghost-hunting TV www.petitiononline.com/sevenpet/petition.html to sort out their Gene Roddenberrys from their special on the inn for Univision said he Morehardt said Tuesday she and Oden Ray Bradburys. registered "www.savethesevensistersinn.com" appreciate the calls of support - including one The uni offers English literature and hopes to have the Internet site up by today from California - and the petition, especially if modules in science fiction, as well as a post- to echo the petition and, perhaps, raise money it can smoke out a potential buyer who will keep graduate MA course in sci-fi studies, which lets for the effort. at least one of the buildings as an inn. you read the best books and watch the top films "If we can get the extension on that, we Seven Sisters fell into financial trouble, of the genre. will go full blast to do some charity events - Morehardt and Oden contend, following a failed whatever it takes," said George Mercado, who contract to buy the inn in which the buyers were CSI contends the Seven Sisters is not only one of the to assume the mortgage payments in January If you want to be like one of the CSI nicest and most hospitable inns he has 2008. They did not make the payments, the coppers, or learn to be a superhero such as investigated - it is also one of the most haunted. couple said, noting the buyers kept delaying the Batman or one of the Watchmen, this could be Currently, the owners of Seven Sisters closing dates and eventually lost contact. the course for you. The City and Islington are seeking a buyer for the two-house Victorian Meanwhile, Morehardt and Oden said, College in London runs a course in crime and inn along Southeast Fort King Street. The two the bank came calling for the full amount owed forensic science, in conjunction with the restored, century-old homes are on the market and, in October, started the foreclosure process. Metropolitan Police. for about $1.3 million, and if an acceptable The inn is still booking events, including It is being touted as training for would- contract is not presented by April 7, First Coast a murder-mystery dinner Saturday night. Also, be scene of crime officers, the British equivalent Community Bank will sell the homes at a the inn is hosting another group of ghost hunters of CSI. foreclosure auction, according the inn's owners. from across the country during the first SEPI, whose ghost tours of historic weekend of April. GHOSTBUSTERS downtown homes stop at Seven Sisters Inn, The group is scheduled to join TV Investigating the paranormal has launched the online petition Saturday. personalities from the Sci-Fi Channel on their become a hobby for increasing numbers of "Our mission is to try and extend or quest to track the inn's apparent haunts. It is yet people across the UK, with groups rushing to delay the time period for which the bank will another spin-off from the Sci-Fi Channel's check out tales of hauntings. foreclose on The Seven Sister's Inn Bed & initial visit in September to film an episode of Coventry University offers a course in Breakfast," notes the petition started by Nancie "Ghost Hunters" at the inn. That episode, in Yvette Fielding Most Haunted-type ghost J. Andriola and other SEPI members. turn, attracted the attention of ghost hunters hunting, officially known as the psychology of Both homes, the petition notes, are on from across the country. Now, it seems, exceptional human experience. the National Register of Historic Places. enthusiasts who seek out the dead are working The course is an MSc post-grad and includes The petition is addressed to Chip to keep Seven Sisters alive. elements of parapsychology. Townsend, president and CEO of First Coast "It's breathed a lot more life into the What will they think of next? [] Community Bank. Andriola said her goal is to inn," Oden said.[]